Transportation route and crew schedulers prepare operational and crew schedules for transportation equipment and operating personnel. They are employed by municipal transit commissions, truck, delivery and courier services, railways, airlines and by other transportation establishments in both the private and public sectors.

Transportation route and crew schedulers prepare operational and crew schedules for transportation equipment and operating personnel. They are employed by municipal transit commissions, truck, delivery and courier services, railways, airlines and by other transportation establishments in both the private and public sectors.

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Skill levels are assigned to tasks: Level 1 tasks are the least complex and level 4 or 5 tasks (depending upon the specific skill) are the most complex. Skill levels are associated with workplace tasks and not the workers performing these tasks.

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The skill levels represented in the above chart illustrate the full range of sample tasks performed by experienced workers and not individuals preparing for or entering this occupation for the first time.

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This information has been adapted from the Government of Canada's Essential Skills Profile for
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Transportation Route and Crew Schedulers

Estimate the amount of time and the number of kilometres that will be saved by carrying out projected changes to routes. (2)

Estimate the running time of a new route, taking into account variables such as the number of passengers, volume of traffic, number of bus stops and the presence of hospital zones, schools and other facilities that can affect passenger loads. This estimation affects the number of buses put on the road. An inaccurate estimate could result in customer complaints or unnecessarily high operating costs. (3)

Transportation route and crew schedulers plan their days carefully, co-ordinating their activities with supervisors, drivers and mechanical and maintenance staff. Their job tasks are varied, with some days spent mostly in the office and others spent on the road examining possible new routes or monitoring old routes. Some job functions, such as the drafting of cost effectiveness reports, are tied to the transportation company's budgetary deadlines. (3)

Decide whether to adjust route timings when drivers complain of the tightness of the time frame for completing the route. (2)

Decide how to divide the day into shift units and how to allocate drivers to shifts. (2)

Decide whether to double the number of vehicles to serve an entire route for the rush hour or whether to send a "deadhead" (out of service) vehicle to start as a double at a particular point midway in the route. (2)

Decide which routes should be terminated because they are not economically viable. (3)

Decide where to locate new stops, taking into account convenience of access for passengers. (3)

Road construction is blocking routes. Determine the best alternate routes to avoid the construction obstacles with the minimum of inconvenience to customers. (1)

Not enough crews are available to serve all the routes. Bring in additional staff and adjust the schedules so that these "spares" will have enough hours to make the work worthwhile. (2)

Complaints are received from parents who are unhappy with school bus schedules. Examine the safety issues involved and seek adjustments to the schedule such as earlier or later pickup or drop-off times. (2)

There are not enough aircraft available on an ongoing basis for the schedule which has been established to serve the needs of a specific airport. It may be necessary to examine the needs of 20 or more airports when making adjustments to schedules. (3)

Customers are experiencing long waits at transfer points because some planned transport connections worked in theory but not practice. New and modified routes are monitored and those that are found to be ineffective are changed to correct the problem. (3)